match with string instead of regexp fails

According to the 1.8.5 core API:

str =~ obj => fixnum or nil

Match. If obj is a Regexp, use it as a pattern to match
against str. If
obj is a String, look for it in str (similar to
String#index). Returns
the position the match starts, or nil if there is no match. 

So I expect "cat" =~ "a" #=> 1

But:

irb(main):013:0> RUBY_VERSION
=> "1.8.5"
irb(main):014:0> "cat" =~ "a"
TypeError: type mismatch: String given
        from (irb):14:in `=~'
        from (irb):14
        from :0

An undocumented change? Sorry if this has come up before, I
did try to
find out. Thx - m.


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